The Delegation has the status of a diplomatic mission (Embassy or High Commission) and officially represents the European Union in Kenya. We promote the European Union's (EU's) values and interests, monitor the political, economic and commercial situation in the country and the region, oversee the various forms of cooperation between the EU and Kenya, and provide information about the EU's relations with Kenya.
The EU's key values and interests can be summed up as: peace, people, prosperity, the planet, and partnership. Here in Kenya, the EU:
- works together with Kenya, including through AMISOM, to promote peace in neighbouring Somalia;
- supports democracy and devolution, helping to bring political power closer to ordinary people;
- is Kenya's biggest export market and a major source of private investment, as well as providing financing for Kenya's infrastructure and rural development to spread greater prosperity in the country;
- supports environmental conservation, which also has wider benefits for the planet;
- works in partnership with Kenya both as a political partner (through regular political dialogue) and as a development partner (in coordination with other donors of assistance and the relevant Kenyan authorities).
The EU is made up of 27 Member States, has a population of around 506 million, and is the largest trading bloc in the world.
Eighteen of the EU Member States have diplomatic missions in Nairobi. The Member States' diplomats meet regularly with the EU Delegation's staff to confer on relations with Kenya, as well as holding joint meetings together with Kenyan decision-makers which constitute the Kenya-EU political dialogue. Several of the Member States have assistance programmes of their own to help support development in Kenya, in addition to the funding that they provide through the EU institutions.
The EU Delegation and EU Member States' diplomatic missions also work together to promote cultural cooperation, including also with other European diplomatic missions in organising the European Film Festival which takes place every year in May.